Important wins for both Chelsea and Real Madrid last night as both clubs took a giant step towards the semi finals after win over Benfica and APOEL Nicosia respectfully.
Of course the biggest result of the biggest result of the night was Madrid’s 3-0 win over APOEL. The win make it very hard for APOEL to move onto the last four especially with a return leg at the Bernabeu in two weeks time.
Chelsea on the other hand are not out of the woods yet despite carrying the single away goal advantage back to Stamford Bridge. Truth be said, the Chelsea result does not do justice to their performance.
With the exception of Torres who i must say was looking sharp in front of goal, Chelsea were fortunate to have walked out of the Estadio da Luz with a win. Benfica were the better of the two sides and should have scored on a number of occasions, however, their finishing in the final third let them down.
Kalou’s 75th minute goal turned the game around and for once, the Blues looked eager for a win.Speaking after the match, a delighted Di Matteo expressed joy with the result.
“It’s terrific. We couldn’t have hoped for a better result,” he told Sky Sports.
“I told you before the game we would need to score and we went close on a number of occasions, and then to keep a clean sheet as well – another one – I think we looked defensively very, very good again.”
Attention now shifts to the most awaited fixture of the quarters, Milan host Barcelona tonight at the San Siro in match were the Catalans are hot favourites to win.
This one will be a hard to call, as both sides will be out for a win, however, i am tipping Milan to cause a major upset. In the night’s other fixture, Bayern Munich travel to France to face Olympique Marseille.
photo credit © Barry Zee